Military families need holiday help

JARED DENNISTON

Published
6:00 pm CST, Wednesday, December 1, 2004

But this year Flynn, a Friendswood resident and volunteer for Action Ministries Houston, a Christian-based charity, was getting ready for the normal holiday flurry of picking up food items and delivering them to some of the 200 pantries and shelters around the Houston area when he heard a request that took him by surprise.

Since the war in Iraq began, he said, several military families have asked to be added to his route after their household incomes dropped from civilian pay rates to lower military salaries. The result left the charity, with resources already stretched out like other charities, with another pressing need and little left over to meet it with.

"That's a new aspect of the ministry we never dreamed about," he said. "(The war) has left the wife and kids at home with a mortgage…it created a need that didn't exist before."

So in addition to bringing donated food, clothing and toys to several families in need this year, Flynn will also be visiting some family members of soldiers stationed in Iraq, bringing with him Christmas presents and supplies to help the families make ends meet.

Despite his surprise over the requests, Flynn's experience has been that the hard times can happen to anyone.

One year he even took his grandchildren, ranging from 6 to13 years old, to a shelter to serve Thanksgiving dinner in order to keep the lesson firmly planted in their heads.

"It was really an eye-opener to the grandchildren that there are truly needy people in the world…these people may be down on their luck but they're human beings; they have a story," he said.

Not long after their Thanksgiving trip to the shelter Flynn's son-in-law lost his job temporarily, making the lesson a little more real for his grandchildren.

"They realized that anybody could get into unfortunate circumstances. No one is really immune," he said.

The experience has left Flynn with a simple plan that helps him live his life.

"If the Lord can use us to help out, then we should be willing to be used," he said.

For more information on Action Ministries Houston, call 281-464-0774 or 281-685-1234 (mobile).